Depleted Green Army ranks for Rugby World Cup

IRELAND’S legendary Green Army will be a depleted force next month as fewer than 1,000 supporters are expected to make the journey to New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup.

The two official tour operators for Irish fans travelling to the tournament have reported that just over 330 fans have so far booked the long-haul trip to support Declan Kidney’s team.

A similar number of fans are expected to travel to New Zealand independent of package tours.

However, the IRFU is hoping support for the team will be boosted by the large number of ex-pats living in New Zealand and Australia.

While it was always improbable that the 20,000 fans that travelled to support Ireland in the last Rugby World Cup in France in 2007 would head to New Zealand given the distance and cost involved, tour operators readily accept that the recession has negatively impacted on the number of fans willing to undertake a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Trevor Brennan Rugby Tours, run by the former Irish and Leinster star, said it hoped to bring 130 fans to New Zealand on packages ranging from €3,495 to €10,250. Director Mark Pinsent said most fans had saved regularly over a number of years in order to fund the trip.

He claimed the most popular of six packages offered to fans was the company’s North and South Island option — a 25-night package taking in six games including Ireland’s matches against Italy, Australia and Russia and two quarter-finals. This package costs €6,999.

Mr Pinsent said there had also been problems with hotel operators in New Zealand charging rip-off fares, but they had been forced to lower their prices amid outrage from tour operators.

In one instance, he said a hotel chain that normally charged €100 per night was seeking €650 per night, with a requirement to book a five-night stay during the tournament.

Paddy Baird, managing director of Killester Travel, said his company had bookings from approximately 200 customers.

He said about 25 fans had booked a package that includes hire of a campervan, which he described as “a great way of getting around New Zealand”.

Meanwhile, Irish fans hoping to sample some of the atmosphere in pubs may not be disappointed despite kick-off times of 6am and 8.30am.

Although licensing laws will prevent pubs from serving alcohol to patrons on their premises, apart from those with an early licence, the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland said it expects many publicans to open.

Chief executive Padraig Cribben said that pubs “up and down the country have been in touch to say that they are holding special breakfast mornings in an attempt to entice customers to enjoy the rugby on the big screens”.